Social Question

How can anyone drive and text at the same time?

I live on rural roads, and the people drive like idiots around here. I typically have to take serious evasive action between 5 to 6 times a day. And sometimes it’s more than than. How can you text and pay attention to the road? It boggles my mind anyone would try.

24 Answers

It’s scary to see a person texting while driving, much less just holding a cell phone up to their ear. I’ve become a much more cautious driver.

A niece was in a car accident about a year ago. No other car was involved, and no other person was in the car. The vehicle went off of the interstate and rammed into a tree. She was in intensive care for a long time before finally being released with serious injuries and a long haul of rehab. She missed her college graduation. Her sister moved back home to help their mother take care of her.

Fortunately, she is almost completely healed. No charges were pressed since she was the only one involved. She really lucked out. I feel confident that she will think twice about her surroundings before she picks up her phone to text again.

I can’t even read a Mapquest when I’m driving, so I’m not delusional enough to think I could text at the same time. Thankfully, with the advent of the central computer systems in cars that are voice-responsive and sync up to phones, I think this issue will become outdated fairly quickly.

As everyone said you can’t not safely. Some people will do it in slow traffic, and off course while stopped at a light, but at least the vehicle is not moving.

I feel like the first question on every driving test should be:

If you take your eyes off the road for any reason, including but not exclusive to, looking down at the radio, texting, talking to passengers in the car, you increase your chances of causing an accident. True or False?

When Oprah did her big push for no texting I can’t tell you how many people said they never thought texting was dangerous while driving. You have to be an idiot. We all do things that can momentarily take our eyes off the road, and I think if the user feels likenthey are only looking down for a second to type one thing or read one thing it is no different than glancing at something else, but it is very different bevause of how it engages your attention, and usually takes longer than people realize. Kind of like fluthering and all of a sudden you are on the computer for an hour.

I say we bring back all manual cars and this bs will stop. Well, somewhat.

From my terrified observation of my uncle the one and only time I have allowed him to drive me for any distance, it’s a matter of waiting until there’s fewer surrounding and oncoming cars, glancing down at your phone and thumbing furiously while letting the car drift slowly out of the lane, then looking up and jerking the car back into the lane when your passenger gasps at some oncoming obstacle. Repeat.

It’s not possible to do it safely. I will occasionally reply to a text if I’m at a long red light, but I frequently look up to stay aware of what’s going on. If I need to immediately reply to a text message, I pull over in a safe spot and take care of it.